


Rekindled Spark

by BroomballKraken



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M, Past Relationship(s), Reunions, these bitches be yearning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:15:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25617967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BroomballKraken/pseuds/BroomballKraken
Summary: It had been ages since Wheeljack and Ratchet's different views on the war caused their breakup, but even the passage of time couldn't heal Wheeljack's broken spark. But now that Ratchet was back in his life, Wheeljack felt a warmth blossom inside of him that he hadn't felt in a long, long time.
Relationships: Ratchet/Wheeljack (Transformers)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 74





	Rekindled Spark

**Author's Note:**

> It's been 84 years since I wrote a Transformers fic, but this new series has reignited my love for Ratchet/Wheeljack, so here's a fic about a reunion between exes with lingering feelings uwu Thanks for reading!

Wheeljack had always hoped that he would someday reunite with Ratchet, but he didn’t think that day would come _quite_ as soon as it did, or contain as much...animosity between them.

“Ratchet, wait up!”

After Optimus had dismissed the Spacebridge team to prepare for their mission, Ratchet had immediately left the room, but Wheeljack couldn’t just let him go off on a potentially dangerous excursion without speaking to him.

Ratchet stopped and turned around, his optics narrowed slightly as he stared down at Wheeljack. “What?”

“Er, well…” Wheeljack hesitated for a moment, scratching at one of his head fins as he averted his gaze. Honestly, he didn’t really know where to begin, given their history together and how their last interaction had gone.

“I...I’m really glad to see that you’re okay,” Wheeljack said as Ratchet crossed his arms over his chest. That was definitely an understatement; Wheeljack had never been more relieved in his life to be scolded by the mech that he still harbored so much love for, even after all the time that they had been apart.

Before the war, he and Ratchet had met when they had been partnered on multiple engineering projects, and they both had been eager to work hard together to bring about new inventions to improve every Cybertronian’s way of life. At some point during their time together, between Wheeljack always managing to almost blow himself up somehow and Ratchet having to piece him back together, Wheeljack had fallen in love with him. He had been relieved to find out that the feeling was mutual, and they had enjoyed a happy relationship for a long time.

Unfortunately, when the war began and the Autobots formed their rebellion, their relationship had quickly fallen to pieces. Wheeljack was all too eager to join Optimus Prime and the Autobots to lend his aid to defeat Megatron and the Decepticons, but Ratchet vehemently opposed the war altogether. Wheeljack had not been surprised; in addition to being a genius engineer like himself, Ratchet was a gifted medic, and absolutely detested the idea of throwing one’s life away in haphazardous ways like the pursuit of war.

Wheeljack had tried his best to convince Ratchet to come with him, but he knew deep down that it was a moot point. Their once happy relationship had ended and they parted ways, leaving Wheeljack with a hole in his spark so large that he was surprised that he had still been able to function properly. Even though he had been keeping busy doing his part in the war, Wheeljack still thought about Ratchet every single day. He knew where Ratchet was and that he was safe there, but he had told Wheeljack not to visit him, and to not tell Optimus or any of the other Autobots where he was. It had hurt Wheeljack to hear those words, but Ratchet was determined to stay as far away from the war as possible, and Wheeljack certainly did not want to be the reason that changed.

Alas, he had been the _exact_ reason that had changed. Wheeljack knew that Ratchet was the only bot skilled enough to repair the Spacebridge, so he had to make the difficult decision to go against Ratchet’s wishes and bring the Autobots to him.

Ratchet’s harsh, biting words tore fresh wounds into Wheeljack’s spark, but he knew that he deserved them. Ratchet had become quite cynical and hardened since they last met, but Wheeljack was at least glad to see that he was still using his skills to help bots in need, no matter what faction they belonged to.

The thought of the Allspark being used for taking life instead of creating it had finally convinced Ratchet to join them, and now here they were, finally talking face-to-face again after such a long time apart. But had the war changed them both too much? Would they have any chance to rebuild the relationship that they lost? Wheeljack really had no idea.

“I...am glad to see that you’re safe, too.” Wheeljack was pulled from his thoughts when Ratchet finally spoke. “You seem to have kept yourself in one piece, at least.”

Wheeljack blinked slowly, not quite sure that he had heard that right. But he saw a ghost of a smile tugging at Ratchet’s lips, and a huge grin crossed Wheeljack’s face behind his face mask; maybe Ratchet hadn’t changed as much as he had initially thought.

“Well, you know, there’s not much time for fun experiments during war,” Wheeljack said, his head fins flashing rapidly as he laughed. His laughter faded when he saw Ratchet frown, and he winced; he probably shouldn’t have brought up the war.

“Right. I assume you’ve been too busy killing Decepticons,” Ratchet said, his tone icy as his optics narrowed into a glare. Wheeljack winced as he bit his lip, and he sighed, his guilt-laced gaze falling to his feet.

“C’mon, you...you know I wouldn’t kill someone unless I had to,” Wheeljack said, his voice quiet. Ratchet was silent for a moment, before he let out a deep sigh, and Wheeljack forced himself to look back up at him.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Ratchet said, a deep frown setting on his face as he shook his head, “That was...you are not that kind of mech. Your spark has always been in the right place, ‘Jack.” The beautiful smile that finally crossed Ratchet’s face made Wheeljack follow suit; he was reminded of one of the many, many things that had made him fall in love with Ratchet.

“Thanks, I really appreciate that.” As a silence fell between them, Wheeljack watched as Ratchet’s brow furrowed; he seemed to be deep in thought about something. It was a familiar look for him, as Wheeljack saw it often when they were working together on some difficult feat of engineering in the past. Wheeljack always thought that Ratchet looked the most handsome when he had that particular look on his face.

“Ah, well,” Ratchet said, breaking the silence as he uncrossed his arms and dropped them to his sides, “I should probably go meet up with the rest of the Spacebridge team.” He turned to leave, and an inexplicable panic welled up inside of Wheeljack, as if this would be the last time that he would ever see Ratchet. He felt like there was too much that he needed to say, but not enough time to say it all.

“Wait.”

Before he could stop himself, Wheeljack reached out and grabbed Ratchet’s hand, causing the latter to freeze mid-step. The seconds dragged by as neither of them moved, until Ratchet finally turned back to Wheeljack, his striking blue optics locking with his own, causing Wheeljack’s breath to catch in his intakes.

Wheeljack swallowed thickly. A million thoughts ran through his head as he tried to focus on one to say aloud, but all that ended up coming out of his mouth was, “Promise me that you’ll take care of yourself, Ratchet.”

Ratchet started at Wheeljack for a moment, his expression annoyingly unreadable. Eventually, a small smile crossed his face as he gave Wheeljack’s hand a light squeeze, and Wheeljack’s optics widened with shock.

“I will, but only if you promise to do the same.”

Wheeljack barked out a laugh when he had recovered from his shock, and he shrugged. “C’mon, this is me you’re talking about! I always err on the side of caution.”

Ratchet burst out laughing at that blatant lie, and Wheeljack’s spark swelled with happiness as fluid started to pool in the corners of his optics. Ratchet’s laughter had always been one of his absolute favorite sounds, and it seems that their time apart hadn’t changed that in the slightest.

“Says the bot who always ended up blowing off his limbs and crawling to me for help reattaching them,” Ratchet said, and Wheeljack let out a defeated sigh.

“I guess you’re right. All the more reason for you to get back here in one piece. You gotta patch me up when I inevitably screw up that bad again.” Wheeljack watched as Ratchet averted his gaze for a moment, his lips pursing together thoughtfully. He turned back to Wheeljack, whose jaw dropped when Ratchet moved his hand up to cup his cheek.

“Yes that is... _one_ good reason to come back to you.” Ratchet’s voice dropped to a whisper, and Wheeljack thought that his spark was going to bust right out of his chest. Ratchet’s optics lingered on his for a moment longer, before he dropped his hand from Wheeljack’s cheek.

“I really should go meet up with the others now,” Ratchet said, “Goodbye, Wheeljack.” He turned around again, and his hand slipped from Wheeljack’s. As he walked down the hall with heavy footsteps, he cast one last backward glance at Wheeljack before he disappeared around the corner.

Wheeljack listened as the sound of Ratchet’s footsteps faded away, and he was eventually able to close his hand into a fist; he was already aching for the feeling of Ratchet’s hand in his again. His other hand went to his cheek, and he could still feel the lingering touch of Ratchet’s smooth, gentle fingers. A deep sigh escaped him as he pressed his back against the wall and let himself slide to the floor.

“Still got it that bad for him, huh?” Wheeljack wondered aloud, sighing as he leaned his head against the wall behind him and closed his optics. A bit of the fluid that had pooled in them earlier leaked out and fell down his face, and Wheeljack sniffed as he wiped them away with his arm.

“Primus, I’m a fool.” Wheeljack let out a humorless chuckle as he shook his head. Yes, he was a fool who was hopelessly in love with his ex.

Wheeljack’s opened his optics, and a smile crossed his face. Well...maybe it wasn’t completely _hopeless_. As he steeled himself, got to his feet, and made his way back to the bridge, he couldn’t help but wonder what those other reasons Ratchet had for wanting to come back to him...but deep down inside of his rekindled spark, Wheeljack had a feeling that he already knew the answer.


End file.
